In many fields of technology, thin film processes are utilized in the fabrication, refinement, and finishing of a vast number of devices and further components. Examples come from the fields of electronic and electrical devices, integrated circuits, micromechanical devices, physical, chemical and biological sensors, optical components, mechanical components and many more fields of application. In many of these and other examples, a deposition of a film, for instance a thin film with a thickness of typically 1 μm or less is deposited by a deposition technique, such as a physical vapor deposition process (PVD). An important physical vapor deposition process is the sputter deposition technique, which is sometimes also referred to as sputtering.
In sputtering, high-energy particles strike a target and physically dislodge atoms. These sputtered atoms migrate through a vacuum and eventually are deposited on a substrate, e.g., a wafer.
In reactive sputtering, a film is formed by chemical reaction between the target material and a gas that is introduced into the vacuum chamber is deposited on the wafer. Oxide and nitride films are often fabricated using reactive sputtering.
Some reactive deposition processes, however, have narrow process windows that result in poor wafer uniformity and repeatability issues (e.g., for the deposition of vanadium oxide films, such as for the manufacture of microbolometers). As a result, there is a need for improved deposition methods, systems, and devices that enhance wafer uniformity and repeatability.